Kolkata — West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is set to lead a major protest rally in Kolkata on July 16, opposing the alleged targeting and mistreatment of Bengali-speaking migrant workers in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states. The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) will also stage simultaneous demonstrations across West Bengal on the same day, condemning what it describes as systematic harassment of Bengali migrants, reported the Hindustan Times.
The announcement was made by senior TMC leader and Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya on Sunday. “If the Bengali language is insulted, if Bengalis are called Bangladeshis, it will not be tolerated. We will take to the streets under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee,” she said.
The protests come amid reports of alleged ill-treatment of migrant workers from West Bengal in Odisha, Delhi, and Maharashtra. In a departure from tradition, the TMC has opted to hold these demonstrations even ahead of its annual Martyrs’ Day Rally on July 21 — a sign of the gravity the party attaches to the current situation.
According to the TMC, the protest is not merely a political maneuver but part of a larger movement to protect the “culture, identity, and honour” of West Bengal. On Sunday, Trinamool MPs Sagarika Ghosh and Saket Gokhale visited Jai Hind Colony in Delhi to meet affected Bengali migrant families and express solidarity.
Chief Minister Banerjee has, in recent weeks, repeatedly criticised the attempts to label Bengali-speaking individuals as “outsiders” or “Bangladeshis”. “Speaking in Bengali does not make someone Bangladeshi,” she stated. “Bengali is one of the constitutionally recognised languages, and every Indian has the right to speak in their mother tongue.”
TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam also highlighted the plight of Arati Ghosh, a 52-year-old woman from Boxirhat in Cooch Behar district. Ghosh was allegedly declared a foreigner and excluded from Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC), forcing her to leave her in-laws’ home and return to West Bengal. “This is the result of BJP’s anti-Bengali mindset,” Mr. Islam said. “Those who claim to respect Bengal have done nothing but humiliate Bengalis.”
The TMC leadership has vowed to continue raising these issues at both state and national levels, calling on the central government to intervene and ensure the safety and dignity of Bengali-speaking citizens across India.
